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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian bomb killed 60 civilians hiding in a school in the eastern Luhansk region. Follow DW for the latest.
Zelenskyy says 60 people dead in Russian bomb attack on a Luhansk school Victory Day celebrations planned in Russia UN chief ‘appalled’ by attack on Ukraine school
This article was last updated at 00:07 UTC/GMT
Japan wants to ban imports of Russian crude oil ‘in principle’
Japan will ban Russian crude oil imports “in principle,” as part of a G7 campaign to counter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said after an online meeting of G7 leaders on Sunday.
“For a country heavily dependent on energy imports, it’s a very difficult decision. But G7 coordination is most important at a time like now,” Kishida said, according to a statement released by the government.
Russia is Japan’s fifth-biggest supplier of crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).
“We commit to phase out our dependency on Russian energy, including by phasing out or banning the import of Russian oil. We will ensure that we do so in a timely and orderly fashion,” the G7 leaders said in their joint statement.
The idea of phasing out Russian oil could give Japan some leeway to gradually reduce imports as it seeks alternative energy sources.
European Commission buildings glow in the colors of the Ukrainian flag
On the eve of Europe Day, the buildings of the European Commission in Brussels are lit up in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday.
“Shining as bright as our hope to see peace return to Europe. And to start weaving our common future with our Ukrainian friends,” she wrote on Twitter.
Britain imposes new sanctions on Russia and Belarus
The UK said on Sunday it was imposing fresh sanctions on Russia and Belarus over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions include import tariffs on precious metals and export bans.
The import tariffs, including on platinum and palladium, target trade worth £1.4 billion ($1.7 billion or €1.6 billion), while export bans worth £250 million ($308 million or €293 million) target Russia’s manufacturing and heavy industry, said a statement from the Department for International Trade.
The new British sanctions bring the total value of products subjected to full or partial import and export sanctions to more than £4 billion.
British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said more than £4 billion of goods would be subject to import and export sanctions, doing “significant damage to Putin’s war effort.”They mark a third wave of British sanctions against Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.
Canada pledges further military aid to Ukraine
Following his visit to Kyiv, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced additional CA$50 million ($38.7 million, €36.7 million) in military aid to Ukraine.
According to the website of the prime minister, the package includes: 18 drone cameras, including in-service support and repair; CA$15 million of high-resolution satellite imagery; up to CA$1 million in small arms and related ammunition; additional ammunition for M777 howitzers.
Trudeau also announced his intention to temporarily remove trade tariffs on Ukrainian imports for a period of one year, as well as new sanctions against Russian oligarchs and those close to Putin’s regime.
Zelenskyy: Russia has forgotten all that mattered to WWII victors
In his nightly address a day before Moscow commemorates the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia has forgotten everything that mattered to the victors of World War II.
Denouncing Russia’s strike on a school in Luhansk region that killed 60 people, he said: “Russia has forgotten everything that was important to the victors of World War II. But Ukraine and the free world will remind.”
Zelenskyy said he wanted the really important words “never again” to regain their weight. These words are repeated every year in the free world in memory of the victims of World War II.
Thousands of soldiers will march through Moscow’s Red Square on Monday, followed by tanks, armored vehicles and rocket launchers. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to address the parade.
Zelenskyy confirms 60 civilians dead in school bombing
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that 60 civilians died in the bombing of a school in the eastern Luhansk region.
“Just yesterday in the village of Bilohorivka, Luhansk region, a Russian bomb killed 60 people. Civilians,” Zelenskyy said during an address to the G7 summit by video conference.
“They were hiding from shelling in the building of a regular school, which was attacked by a Russian air strike,” the Ukrainian president said.
On Saturday, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaiday had said 90 people had been at the site when the strike hit.
Rescuers could not work overnight because of a threat of new strikes but resumed their work Sunday.
UN chief ‘appalled’ by attack on Ukraine school
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “appalled” by the bombing of a school in eastern Ukraine that killed 60 people and called for civilians to be spared, his spokesman said on Sunday.
“The Secretary-General is appalled by the reported attack on 7 May which hit a school in Bilohorivka, Ukraine, where many people were apparently seeking shelter from the ongoing fighting,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
Guterres “reiterates that civilians and civilian infrastructure must always be spared in times of war,” and noted that the attack was “yet another reminder that in this war, as in so many other conflicts, it is civilians that pay the highest price.”
Summary of Sunday’s events in Russia’s war on Ukraine
Convoy buses carrying civilians evacuated from southeastern Ukraine have arrived at the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia. Osnat Lubrani, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, confirmed that 174 people were brought to safety from “the hell of Mariupol.”The US State Department announced visa bans and restrictions on over 2,500 Russian military officials and Russian-backed forces in Ukraine. The State Department also designated eight Russian maritime companies and placed 69 vessels on a US Treasury Department sanctions list.
Following a meeting via video conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, leaders of the G7 nations said they were imposing further sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. The G7 leaders said they were “committed to phasing out or banning the import of Russian oil,” according to the statement.
The Irish band U2 gave a concert in the Kyiv metro with lead singer Bono praising Ukraine’s fight for freedom and offering a prayer for peace.
A group of US diplomats are scheduled to return to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on May 9 to coincide with Russia’s celebration of Victory Day commemorating the Soviet Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany 77 years ago.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv where civilians were left in mass graves and for dead on the street. His surprise trip was not previously announced and comes on the same day US first lady Jill Biden was also in Ukraine to hold a Mother’s Day meeting with Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenskyy.
Police in Berlin rolled up a giant Ukrainian flag demonstrators displayed at the Soviet War Memorial in the central Tiergarten Park. Ukraine’s ambassador in the German capital Andriy Melnyk criticized the measures, calling it a “catastrophic politically wrong decision.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a Victory Day address on Sunday that evil has returned to Ukraine.
“The evil has returned. Again!” Zelenskyy said. “In a different form, under different slogans, but for the same purpose.”
Bundestag President Bärbel Bas visited Kyiv. She is the most important German politician to visit Ukraine since February.
Bas is the second-highest representative of Germany after the president.
During an address commemorating the end of World War II, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said there can be “no peace under Russian dictatorship” in Ukraine. He also defended his government’s policies during the crisis.
dh/wd (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
Ukraine: Zelenskyy says dozens killed in school bomb attack— live updates (msn.com)